Thursday, June 30, 2016

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!While browsing my old meme posts I used to do I happened across this one. I haven't done one since 2013 but I am ready to start it up again. I love talking about all the wonderful review books I have.

I've got this huge review pile that I feel like I will never get caught up. I hate to admit that I've had this one on my pile for far to long. However this summer I'm going to get it done.Builtby Jay Crownover Add to (Goodreads)

The first in the new SAINTS OF DENVER series from NYT bestselling author of the MARKED MEN series, Jay Crownover

Sometimes you have to tear everything down to build something new…

Sayer Cole is frozen inside. At least, that’s what it’s felt like for as long as she can remember. She’s yet to let anyone past her icy exterior – and the one guy she thinks might melt her heart couldn’t possibly be interested in someone so uptight.

Rough, hard and hot-as-hell, Zeb Fuller has rebuilt his life and his construction business since protecting his family sent him to jail all those years ago. His elegant client, Sayer, makes him feel like a Neanderthal in denim, but despite the many hints that he’s been dropping to get to know her better, she seems oblivious to his charms.

Just as things finally start to heat up, Zeb’s past comes back to haunt him and he needs Sayer’s professional help to right a wrong and to save more than himself. As these opposites dig in for the fight of their lives, fire and ice collide in an unstoppable explosion of steam…

Dust off your Bookshelf was originally created to share books that have been on my “to read pile” for a long time. Some so long I’ve forgotten that they are there, and have purchased duplicate copies. Each week I will share on my blog as well as Instagram a new title. Some may be newer and some so old I have forgotten they are there. I do have issues with buying books and never reading them. I’m hoping that by share them I will be motivated to read them. Plus it’s always fun to find new books hiding within the bookshelves. Feel free to join in and share on Instagram or your blog. Just let me know so I can check out your choice this week too. Just use #DustOffYourBookshelf

This weekly makes me feel like a hoarder when it comes to books because deep down I really am. I have so many books that I keep adding to my shelves but they never end up getting read. I keep saying one day they will all be read.

I really enjoyed the first one but haven't gotten around to this one yet.

After the Shyama brazenly kidnap Aurora in a crowded Las Vegas Casino, others in the Organization soon go missing. Her friends, family, and Gavyn sink into despair as hours pass into days with no leads, but Gavyn refuses to give up the search.

During Aurora’s captivity, she learns the terrible truth of the identity of the Shyama and her own kind. Worse yet, the Shyama have horrible plans that will destroy everyone she loves.

The first time that Dr. Andy Kumar had seen Cadell Glynn—all six feet, four inches of him, tribal tattoos winding around his arms, fingertips deeply callused from years of pressing steel guitar strings, dressed in leather pants and a tee shirt ripped at the neck that let the tattoos on his muscular shoulders peek through, blue-tipped black hair spiraling in curls and swaying near his shoulders, and fear and helplessness filling his dark eyes at the sight of his sick child hooked up to two different IVs and crying—Andy had known that he was going to be trouble.

Mr. Glynn had interrogated Andy and the other surgeons, asking why, and when, and how, and would it hurt Emily too much.

He had calmed down some after that first week. Some.

After a few weeks, when Emily had stabilized, Mr. Glynn had backed off from the third degree, but he had begun to mention that there were other things in life outside the hospital. Restaurants. Dancing. Concerts. For months.

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Blair Babylon is the nom de plume of an award-winning, USA Today-bestselling author who used to publish literary fiction. Because professional reviews of her other fiction usually included the caveat that there was too much deviant sex and too much interesting plot, she decided to abandon all literary pretensions, let her freak flag fly, and write hot, sexy, erotic romance, plus wild, suspenseful thrillers, science fiction, and urban fantasy using the super-secret pen name Blair C. Babylon.

The same man that raped me is the same man that tried to kill me. Twice. I have some evidence, but not enough. I want revenge, but every step I take towards getting that revenge I feel myself drifting further from Landon.

I’m going to lose him.

I’m going to lose everything that I care about. All I can focus on is revenge. Maybe then I will be able to put the past behind me. Maybe then I can truly heal. I just hope I don’t lose him and myself in the process.

__ __

She’s pregnant.

Caroline has always held my deepest darkest secrets, but now she thinks she has another one. One that could control me. I can’t be a father though.

I’m a monster.

The baby can’t be mine. If it is, I already know my future. I’ll lose the woman I love. The only woman I’ve ever wanted.

I tried to get rid of the monster. I thought we could escape the darkness by starting over. I thought we could put our pasts behind us.
The demons found me, though. The urges came back. There is no such thing as redemption. I can’t be saved.
I tried to put my urges to rest. But the need to inflict pain is too strong to resist. I can’t hold back any longer.
I can’t be saved from the monster because I am the monster.

Author Bio:

Ella Miles writes sexy romance with strong females that could kick your butt if you piss them off, which they often do to the men that fall for them. She's currently living her own happily ever after near the Rocky Mountains with her high school sweetheart husband. Her heart is also taken by her goofy two year old black lab that is scared of everything, including her own shadow. Ella is the author of the Aligned series. Get a free book by visiting her website. Or by stalking her on Twitter or Facebook.

Ivory vows to find out more about what is going on at Dead Horse Bay but she wrecked the Renegade and must find a rogue replacement, a fixer-upper boat someone threw away a long time ago. Ivory is a Smuggler, a member of one of the Outcast underground groups of New York City.

Ivory is obsessed with saving Outcasts from vanishing from the Commonwealth of Earth. She has smuggled an Outcast out of Dead Horse Bay, but can she smuggle herself in to learn more about the secrets the Commonwealth is hiding?

Or perhaps the answers she and her friends seek are in Lockup, the dreaded insane asylum Outcasts are dragged to when they have accumulated 50 demerits. At Lockup is the Mortuary, a tunnel leading into darkness. All Ivory must do to be throw into Lockup is to act even more rebellious and gain the attention of Behavior Drones and the FRE (Fanatic Rule Enforcers).

Ivory will do whatever it takes to save herself and her friends from extinction in a world where people have become immortal, except for Outcasts, the thorn in the Commonwealth’s side.

No one’s tougher than Carolina Cougars linebacker Derek McLaughlin. But when a fatal car accident claims the life of his girlfriend, Derek finds himself caught in a destructive spiral of drugs, alcohol, and meaningless sex. But not even a string of one-night stands can ease the hurt. Football is all he has left. Then fate leads him back to the scene of the crash, and into the arms of a kind, gorgeous woman who sees past his façade to the man he once was . . . and can be again.

When a chance roadside encounter brings Derek into her life, veterinarian Hayden Hunter isn’t fooled by his bad attitude: All bark and no bite, he’s hiding a wounded heart beneath that gruff demeanor. And Hayden wants to be the one to kiss it all better. Soon they both find that a dose of passion is potent medicine. But when a hidden enemy lashes out at Hayden, Derek steps up to do what he does best: put his body on the line in the name of love.

Guilt plagued me and I felt sick. Getting out of bed, I paced the room, running my hands angrily through my hair. I didn’t want to hurt Hayden. Keeping her away would protect her from my life. She was bound to leave me anyway. I’d fuck up somehow and it would ruin her. What the hell was I talking about? I’d already fucked her up.

“Derek?” Her voice was like honey, silky and sweet. I’d imagined what it would be like to hear that voice screaming my name as I fucked her over and over. Last night had been the best night of my life, but it had scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t shake it. “Derek, are you okay?” she asked. Stopping midstep, I turned to face her, and her eyes widenened when she got a glimpse of my face. I could only imagine what she saw. So many emotions battled inside me. She held the blanket to her chest, and her lips trembled. “Please tell me this wasn’t just a game to you,” she whispered.

Swallowing hard, I sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for her. She recoiled from my touch. “None of this was a game, Hayden. Last night was fucking amazing.”

Her eyes glistened, but her jaw was firm. “Then why are you looking at me like that? Like you regret what we did.”

I wanted to touch her, but last night had been my only chance. She’d never let me close to her again. “I don’t regret it, but eventually you will. You’re not the only one who’s lost someone they cared about. I can’t go through it again. It’s best to stop this before it goes any further.”

“Any further?” she scoffed. She waved her arm around the room, her anger so thick I could cut it with a knife. “If you didn’t want it to go any further, then why did you bring me here? Why would you do that to me?”

“Because I care about you,” I said, knowing it made no sense to her.

“Then why are you pushing me away?” she cried.

Standing, I got up and walked over to the window. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Author Bio:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.

Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can't forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols.

Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over seventeen novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, the Gloves Off series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Rush of Wingsand The Maker’s Song series, a humorous, action-packed urban fantasy about a werewolf pack and an animal control officer in way over his head!

Someone is picking off fortune tellers and hippies in Oregon, snatching them out of their Birkenstocks mid-stride. And when the legend himself, Hal Rupert, Animal Control Officer, gets a whiff of the mystery, he knows he’s the man to solve it. In between proudly wrangling out-of-control cats and dogs, he’s noticed a peculiar uptick in another sort of animal…werewolves.

Hal infiltrates the country fair to investigate the disappearance of the flower children. But his real priority is protecting the love of his life, Desdemona Cohen, whose long purple tresses and black-glossed lips captured his heart the moment he first saw her standing behind the register at Hot Topic. Desdemona may have nicknamed Hal “Creep,” but he’s determined to win her heart. And, you know, save everyone else, too.

Review

Hal is a dog catcher but recently he’s not so much been catching dogs as he has werewolves. On a routine shift he finds a Birkenstock which leads him to believe that something is happening to the hippies in the area. Hal’s biggest worry is that something will happen to his lady love Desdemona even if she has nicknamed him Creep. With the help of his companions it will be for Hal to track down and find out what is really happening to the missing hippies and who is behind the disappearance. Will they find what is going on or will it be to late?

I like Hal he’s a good guy who has been tossed into the supernatural world but that’s to be expected when you live near a werewolf pack. I like that he has accepted his supernatural world even embracing it working with two unique companions. I find his relationship with Desdemona interesting if nothing else.

I’ve had this one on my to read list for a while based on the cover alone and on my kindle of a while. I found the story interesting and unique the idea of a dog catcher that doesn’t catch your typical dogs was fun. I also really liked Hal he was easy to connect with and I enjoyed that he was teamed up with a shifter. My only complaint is that story isn’t long enough I want more of Hal’s world and hope that that we will see more. I enjoyed the author writing style the story just flowed alone it was easy to read in one sitting. A quick captivating paranormal story that captured my imagination.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. In my case not so patiently waiting for the new releases, which I lack.I've always been a huge fan of Janet Evanovich so hearing she has a new series I must try it. My Choice this week is Curious Minds by - Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton Genre - MysteryExpected Publication -August 16th 2016Add to (Goodreads)

Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, teams up with Emmy-winning writer Phoef Sutton for a brand-new series of thrillers featuring the invincible and incompatible pairing of Knight and Moon.

Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

When I first saw Sam in this hospital bed a couple days ago, I’d wanted to stroke her cheeks and kiss her forehead. She was so frail and sick. I wanted to comfort her. Now she’s starting to get her color back along with a little bit of her orneriness—a good sign—but I still have this pinched, panicked feeling in my chest. I don’t know why it won’t go away.

But now, as I look at her sleeping, that feeling starts to take on a life of its own.

Something warm is blooming in my heart and my chest. Meanwhile a strange, queasy sort of feeling grips my stomach. I don’t just want to pet her cheek and kiss her on the forehead. I want to pull her into my arms and cradle her head against my chest. I
want to climb right into this bed and hold her against me, feeling her body against mine from head to toe. I want to kiss her on the forehead, and on her cheeks, and on her lips.

We may have been friends for a long, long time, but these feelings I’m having are brand freaking new.

At that moment Ashley comes in, giving me a quick smile before looking at Sam. “Oh, she looks so much better,” she says. She deposits her purse on the counter, flips her long braid behind her, and comes over to sit beside me. “Don’t you think?”

I’m barely breathing. Ashley’s looking at Sam, but I’m looking at Ashley. Maybe my brain is just playing tricks on me. I’m tired from practically no sleep and exhausted from being so freaked out about losing my best friend.

Friend.

So I try it on Ashley. I try to see her the way a man might see her, a man who hasn’t looked at her for years like a sister. But as I continue to stare at her, all I manage to do is draw her attention and make her give me a quizzical look. My heart draws a blank.

I try to imagine kissing her and can’t do it. It’s kind of freaking me out, actually.

“What?” she asks.

“Nothing.”

My voice sounds funny. I look back to Sam and it all hits me again. Bam.

Oh, god.

Oh, god.

Oh, god.

Oh, god.

This can’t be good.

Author Bio:

J.L. White writes steamy romances featuring smart, sexy women and the swoon-worthy men who adore them. Her sexy love stories are full of passion but don't skimp on the tenderness.

She's addicted to trendy coffee houses, poolside lounging, and HEAs. When not tapping blissfully away on her laptop, she takes time to enjoy life with her husband and their children.

Don't miss a new release! Join the JL White mailing list for updates on new books, sales, and other goodies: http://jlwhitebooks.com/get-emails-about-hot-new-releases/

Join the conversation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLWhiteAuthor

Hal shook his head, chuckling. Boneheaded bicyclists. What if he’d been a lycan and not the human, but still very deadly, Hal Rupert?

Well . . . then the guy woulda been one helluva meal, if a bit stringy—all those wiry muscles. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Sauntering, breathing in the morning’s crisp summer scents—dewed grass, cold water, dog shit—Hal continued his stroll along the greenbelt. He was about to turn around and head back to his pickup when an odd shape on the path caught his eye.

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke And The Brookish. Who doesn't love lists. They make life easy! And fun!! It's always a never ending topic.This week's topic: Top ten favorite summer activities that aren't readingI live in Northern California which is to hot to spend a lot of time outside. It's been in the upper 90's and even in the 100's yesterday. 1. Hitting the farmers markets early to pick up yummy fresh produce to Can has become a new hobby of mine. I love all the fresh fruit and veggies. 2. Since the kids aren't in school we've been been binge watching movies with the weather to hot to be outside. 3. We go bowling in the summer because we can go early before it get's to hot. 4. Trips to the park for playdates. My husband will be gone this summer so no vacations and just keeping close to home because of the dogs. What are you top ten this week?

Rogan is a robot. More specifically, he is an Asist – a personalized humanoid servant that provides protection, assistance, and companionship for a lonely young woman living on her own in the city. Chloe is trying to get her big break, singing at bars and clubs all over the city at night while she pays the bills as a substitute teacher during the day. Ever since she activated him many months ago, Rogan has been her beautiful, dependable, obedient, dead-eyed security blanket.

One morning she is shocked when he disobeys a direct command in an attempt to please her and his dull artificial eyes flash a hint of something new. Is this the result of the adaptive Asist servility programming or is Rogan actually thinking? Can a robot think? Can a robot feel?

As Chloe struggles with these thoughts she is blindsided by the singular Niven Adams, a handsome, confident man with the voice of an angel who is everything she’s ever wanted in a boyfriend. He’s the perfect guy for her, except for one problem. Niven doesn’t approve of Asists and takes an immediate dislike to Rogan. As Niven charms his way deeper and deeper into Chloe’s heart, Rogan tries to convince her that he is more than a mass-produced disposable servant.

With Rogan doing everything in his power to prove that his thoughts and feelings are real and Niven trying to persuade her to abandon her robot and have a normal human relationship, Chloe is trapped between the two things that mean the most to her. Does she embrace her relationship with the blond newcomer, or face that her Asist’s feelings may be more than features of his programming?

C.E. Wilson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, grew up in Millersville, Pennsylvania, and has been living in Pittsburgh since 2009. For the first few years living in Pittsburgh, she was an English teacher. Her first book, "Oath of Servitude," was published in 2012. In 2013, she quit teaching to be a full time author and hasn't looked back since. She loves spending time with her daughter and husband.

Two centuries ago, Adrian vowed to seek revenge against the Gypsy woman who bound his spirit for eternity. Despite how far under the dirt Miryah Kotorara’s bones lay, he won’t stop tormenting the Kotorara bloodline. The person doesn’t matter, only the name.

Until her.

Dr. Mia Kotorara has spent the last ten years trying to forget her Gypsy heritage. Ostracized by her family and emotionally damaged, Mia throws herself into her work to fill the void. She forgets everything from her past—except for the man who solely exists in her dreams.

When reality and dreams collide, Adrian and Mia find something they never expected. Love.

Magic will bring them together, but it may not be enough to mend Mia’s broken heart and Adrian’s lust for revenge.

The Kotorara curse is never satisfied.

As the curse threatens everything they have overcome, Adrian and Mia must fight to save what matters most—each other.

Their routine never changed. Smack the alarm clock for fifteen more minutes of grunting, snoring sleep. Grumble when the contraption bleeped its nauseating music again. Shower, wake the children in the next room, eat some sugary swill, and leave for a day of school or work. Day, after day, after day.

If I hadn’t already hated these rotting people, their boring lives would’ve put me over the edge.

Unfortunately, my life, or lack thereof, mirrored theirs. An apparition only had so much to do to fill the time. My routine never changed, either, not for over two hundred years. Yes, the families would turn into other families as generations progressed—I lost count of how many had passed—but they were all from the same insane bitch of an ancestor. I wasn’t too particular. All they required was the right name.

The little things kept my sanity. Push the clock out of reach. Adjust the water until it grew frigid or scalding, depending on my mood. If I were really on point, I dumped that slop they shoveled into their mouths every morning onto the floor for the mangy dog. So what if these specific Gypsies hadn’t cursed me. A curse, I might add, undeserved. Two hundred years built enough anger to spread vengeance without prejudice.

Pathetic, but those little things were all I had. Not much else to occupy my time, and as any good haunt would do, I followed the man, Luca, to the city after he dropped his children off at school–every day.

I wouldn’t have been a decent ghost if I hadn’t at least tried to heave him into oncoming traffic as he scurried to his custodian job. I’d been practicing that trick for years, coming so close a few times. Once I perfected it, the push would probably be at the back of the wanker’s grandson. Hell, great-grandson. Unlike them, I had eternity on my side. But one day, a few of the sodding Gypsies would decorate the windshield of a city bus.

Not today, though. Luca weaved around the crowd while I slinked through it, body after body. The beastly man tended to hurry, always late due to his nightly drinking binges, and I enjoyed tripping him up in his rush, a skill I had mastered. A millisecond of physical contact might not get anyone smacked with a speeding car, but stumbling in a hurry irritated even the most patient person, which Luca wasn’t.

“Christ!” He grabbed a lamppost in time to save his face from the pavement. “Knock your shit off. I ain’t got time for it today.”

To an outsider, the bloated man appeared as if he spoke to himself. But I knew better.

“Well, good thing for you I’ve plenty of time for us both,” I answered him. Even though he couldn’t hear me, we’d had plenty of conversations over the years, as I had with his father, and his father before him. I used to rage, scream until my voice grew hoarse. Not a blooming soul ever gave any indication they knew I existed. To answer now became habit, needing to speak to him as if I had a voice left in the world.

Unfortunately, I’d become as much a part of this heathen family as every other bastard whelped by the likes of a Gypsy bitch. My story became an heirloom, passed from generation to generation. The angry ghost of Miryah Kotorara’s curse. No one had the ability to see me, much less hear a damn word I had to say. Bad luck, a faulty alarm clock, a stumble on nothing, all of it blamed on something none of them really believed in. Me.

In truth, no one believed in me except for maybe Luca, probably the reason I chose him to annoy instead of his brother this generation. What good were all my efforts if the person I haunted thought me a fantasy? I was a curse to a god who didn’t exist for the rest of the family. My attempt to scare, kill, or maim them in some way ended up being part irritation, part fun story to repeat at dinner parties.

Even vapor had pride, and the Kotorara clan stomped on it any chance they had.

Luca straightened his jacket and mumbled curses as the crosswalk light blinked to proceed. Oh, to have the power to push his fat, greasy body into a lorry. I swiped at his back, my hand disappearing through his skin and blubber.

One day, you tosser.

As soon as we hit the curb, Luca stopped. If I were matter, I’d have rammed into his back. Instead, I whooshed through his body. Times like these, I was grateful for the lack of senses, not particularly fond of body odor, sweat, and soft man flesh.

“Well, come on, then. Move your bloody arse.”

Even if he could hear, I doubt he would have listened. Luca directed his attention to a sleek building in front of us, a scowl twisting his lips.

I followed his gaze, frustrated as if I were the one late for work. “What has your attention, fat man?” My eyes landed on a woman who focused on the building, her hair so dark it almost shined blue. Her slim shoulders stiffened before she turned—and saw me.

Author Bio:

Born and currently residing in Texas, Angela shuffles three active children (not including her husband) all over the place. She works in a busy pediatric doctor's office as a nurse during the day and writes at night. She is addicted to coffee and chocolate, laughs a lot, often at herself and is willing to try anything once. When Angela isn't rushing kids around, working or writing, she's reading. Other than life experience, Angela turns to a wide variety of music to help spark her creative juices. She loves to dance and sing though her kids often beg her not to.

Born in Pennsylvania, Lynn spent most of her childhood, especially during math class, daydreaming. Today, she spends an obscene amount of time in her head, only now she writes down all the cool stuff.

With a degree in English Literature, Lynn used college as an excuse to read for four years straight. She lives in the Pocono Mountains with her husband, raising the four most incredible human beings on the planet. She writes young adult novels, both fantasy and contemporary.

About Me

I’m a stay at home mother of two and three fur babies. I am
happily married to my best friend; he’s my rock and hero. I’m a coffee and book
obsessed blogger who loves to craft and bake in her free time.